


The Point is Coffee

by Ms_Yule, sweettooth97



Category: Discworld - Terry Pratchett
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Coffee Shops, F/F, Fluff, More Fluff, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-15
Updated: 2016-03-08
Packaged: 2018-05-06 20:43:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5430170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ms_Yule/pseuds/Ms_Yule, https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweettooth97/pseuds/sweettooth97
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Polly works at a coffee shop on the campus of AMU and Mal is a shop regular. Also all the other characters of Discworld are teachers or students at the school. As you can guess craziness ensues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginning of the Addiction

**Author's Note:**

> I forced my friend to read monstrous regiment and so we decided to write a fanfiction about it :D thanks for all the help Ms_Yule. Also all of you should go over and check out her own Archive as she has some fun little Crowley/Az. on her own one :D thanks for reading hope you like.

The door banged off its hinges at 6:15 on the dot, just like every other morning. Polly turned around with the already-made, extra large, straight black coffee in hand. Maladicta, on the other side of the counter, looked like a wet rat that had finally found shelter after a long night of being out in the rain. It wasn’t even raining outside.

“Your coffee, Maladicta.”

Maledicta took a long, long gulp of her coffee. “Thanks a bunch, Polly.”  

She smiled, showing off her extra long canines, and went to got sit by the front window to do her last minute re-reading of her paper. Maledicta was a skinny, beautifully styled girl who also happened to be extremely smart. The early rising was do to the fact that she had made the decision to become a lawyer when she was young, and that she had a 8 o’clock class.

Polly turned to watch Shufti put the last of the day’s baked goods into the display cabinet. Shufti straightened with a groan and declared, “I need more sugar and some more eggs.”

“Ok,” said Polly, “I’ll write a note for Jackrum for the next time he makes the order.”

Shufti smiled and bustled back into her kitchen. It had been everyone's kitchen before she had come, but now it was her kitchen. Shufti was a culinary major who Jackrum had found to help with the baking, as Polly was pretty bad and Jackrum was allergic to work. She would come in whenever she had time and make them baked goods for mostly nothing because, as she put it, it was good work experience.

The bells above the door chimed again. 6:30. Had to be Igorina.

“What can I get for you today, Igorina?” Polly asked without even turning around.

“Um... I see you have a new pumpkin chai drink... but also a peppermint drink. Which one is better?”

“How about I surprise you?” Polly said, already busying herself with the drink.

“Ok. I’ll just be over at my normal seat,” Igorina said as she trotted away. Igorina was nice if you got by her weirdly pale skin and her strange tendency to watch endless surgery videos on her phone. She was a medical major who still found time to go out to the local hospital and help out. Hands-on experience is what she called it. Polly suspected that it was more about the doctors looking the other way as she did surgeries on the morgue patients.

“Coffee’s up, Igorina.” Polly said as she put it gently on the counter. It was a double mocha peppermint chai thing that Polly had just recently learned to make. She hoped Igorina would like it, but she normally liked anything with sugar, so she was pretty safe.

“Thanks Polly. Can I also have one of the chocolate croissants today? They look really good.”

“Sure, no prob.” Polly said, smiling. Shufti's food always flew off the shelves. “Will that be for here or to go?”

“To go, I have to do some work before my 8 o’clock Bio 302 class.”

“Bio 302? But aren't you a freshman?”

“I’m really good at anatomy,” Igorina said before she grabbed her croissant and drink and left for the library.

The next person to come in, Polly knew, would be the religious studies and history major, Wazzer. She was a small girl who didn’t talk much, but helped out at all the local food banks and chapels. She always ordered a small camomile tea with lots of sugar, and wouldn’t stay long. Then would come The Couple, Tonker and Lofty, both theater majors and so wrapped up in each other they sometimes forgot there was a world outside of their own. Tonker would order for the two, one black coffee with six sugars and one peppermint tea. They were sweet, and if they didn’t have much to do they would chat with Polly about their life and upcoming plays. And after that would be Jade at a quarter before 10 to get her two double espressos and then jog to her first class. She was a geology major, but the thing that really kept her up was the rugby team, as the coaches worked them into all hours of the night. After that the only other people who would come in would be random people filtering in and out, as the cafe was on the far end of campus and most people didn’t come this far unless they knew about it or couldn’t get to the bigger coffee shop in the center of campus.

Polly whipped down the counter and checked the clock. She had a half and hour before Wazzer got there, so now would be a good time to take her breakfast. Grabbing a muffin and making herself a coffee with milk she made her way to an open table. She had started working at The Point is Coffee two weeks ago. She had been looking for a job on campus for weeks, and found the little coffee shop quite by accident. Jackrum had looked at her weirdly when she had first entered. He explained later that not many people came into the shop, so anyone coming in was out of the norm. Strangely enough, after Polly, more and more people seemed to wander into the shop. It even gained some regulars who liked the smaller, less crowded atmosphere of the cafe. Polly liked the work. It wasn’t overly straining, and she got free meals when she was working. Not to mention Jackrum allowed her to make her own work schedule, so it worked well around her classes for her ornithology major.

“This seat taken?” Polly looked up to see Maladicta standing by the chair at the other side of the two-person table.

“No…”

“Would you mind me sitting here?” Maladicta prompted.

“No.” Polly said again, this time trying to sound more confident in her response.

“Ok, good,” said Maladicta, flashing another of her smiles at Polly. “Great, even.”

“Yeah.”

“So...what do you for fun?”

“Um...not much, work mostly. You?”

“Work, drink coffee, and read books.”

“Wow, you really have such a hectic life,” Polly said, teasingly. “How do you cope with it all?”

“Coffee, mostly,” Maladicta said with a grin that lit up  her whole face. “What are you studying?”

“Ornithology.”

“That’s… birds?”

“Yep, birds.”

“Interesting.”

Polly shrugged. “I suppose.”

A small frown creased Maledicta’s brow. “You don’t find it interesting?”

“No, I do,” Polly assured her. “It’s just… I think I’m going through a bit of a rough spot right now.”

“Ah…. I understand. For me, law school is one big rough spot.”

Polly grimaced sympathetically. “I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes.”

“It does have its advantages.”

She snorted. “Like what?”

Maledicta thought for a moment. “Pays well?”

The door opened and in came Wazzer.

“Shit, sorry, I have work. Talk later?”

“Sure. I will keep coming back if you keep having coffee.”

“Don’t think we’re running out anytime soon.” Polly said as she walked back behind the counter, smiling. “So Wazzer, your usual?”

“Yes please,” said the shy girl. Polly busied herself with the making of Wazzer’s drink and let her mind wander to the rest of the day’s schedule. She was on the clock for four more hours, after which she could grab some lunch and head back to her dorm to tackle the mountain of homework that was undoubtedly lurking there, ready to pounce. Then at three it was back to class for a few hours, then dinner, then more homework, then bed. As much as Polly hated to admit it, her social life was practically non-existent. There just always seemed to be more important things to do.

“There you go, Wazzer,” she said, handing her the drink.

“Thank you, Polly.” She sipped at her tea, smiled serenely, and went over to sit at one of the window seats.

“That reminds me!” Shufti exclaimed, coming up next to Polly. “Do you want to go out with us tonight? I was going to go with the roommates, but Jade has practice and, well, you know how Wazzer can be….”

Polly nodded sympathetically. As nice as Wazzer was, partying with her was a bit like having an elderly nun peering over your shoulder at all times. “I don’t know, I have quite the pile of homework, Shufti.”

“Hm...and you can’t do it tomorrow? I mean really, Pol, it’s Friday. Live a little!” Shufti said with a grin. “Plus I think I can get Maladicta to come.”

“Oh now that’s just not playing fair,” whined Polly as she moved her gaze over to the table she had previously emptied. Maladicta seemed to have already left for her next class, sadly. Polly would just have to deal with staring at her empty seat.

“So? Are you in?” prompted Shufti.

“What the hell, sure.”

“Yes!” cried Shufti. “You won't regret it.”

\- - -

She did do most of her homework anyway. She had time as she waited for Shufti and it would nag at her all night if she didn’t at least do some of it. Also when she got nervous she liked to busy herself with work, and she was very nervous. She hadn’t gone to many college parties as she didn’t really like crowds, and with no roommate to drag her out to them she normally just stayed in a did homework. She had picked out her outfit after being home for five minutes and then spent the next two hours changing it, but in the end she settled on her first choice--a loose, dark red shirt and a pair of short overalls, paired with a long necklace and her nose ring. She pushed back her short hair and stared at the mirror again. Well maybe if she changed the… a knock came from the door.

“Polly, are you ready?” came Shufti’s voice from the other side of the door. “We have to go.”

“Yep! I’m coming now.”

\- - -

The party was loud and dark except for the flashing lights. Shufti had insisted that they would meet up with the others at the party. Polly had a hard time hearing what Shufti was saying over the music, something about getting a drink maybe. She nodded and looked around. The place wasn’t that different from the other party houses. The low ceiling and small windows made the room feel like you were in some sort of prison cell, and the loud music didn’t really make the place feel any more open. Polly sighed and scoured the crowd for a familiar face. She spotted Lofty and Tonker, but since they looked like they were in a world all their own she decided to leave them alone. Shufti had said Jade had practice and Wazzer had said she had homework and that in any case parties weren’t her style. That left Polly, Shufti, Igorina, and Maladicta, assuming she was here. Polly looked again. Maybe she had just missed her...and there she was. With her beautiful black hair down for once. She moved like water as she danced by herself, her tight black clothes showing off her curves perfectly. She knew Maladicta was graceful but this was something completely different. She was gorgeous.

“Close your mouth before you start drooling all over the dance floor,” Shufti yelled over the music.

Polly snapped her mouth shut just as Maladicta’s eye landed on her. Maladicta seemed to drift over them with a smile that could blind a lesser creature. Polly felt very accomplished that she only had to squint a little.

“Beautiful, isn’t she?” said someone very close to Polly’s left ear, making her jump.

“Igorina! It is not nice to sneak up on people.”

“I didn’t sneak, you just didn’t turn around,” Igorina said with a smirk. Polly frowned and turned back to where Maladicta had been and yelped again.

“Hello, Maladicta,” she said over the noise of the music.

Maladicta leaned in and said into Polly’s ear, “Please, call me Mal.”

Polly blushed. “Sure,” she said.

“May I have this dance?” she asked, reaching out her hand.

“...ok,” said Polly after a pause. She could have sworn she heard a quiet finally as she followed Mal out onto the dance floor. Maybe it was just the pounding of her heart in her ears. Just as they got to the center of the dance floor the song changed, becoming slower.

“Well…” said Polly starting to back away. Mal though, never missing a beat, brought her other hand up to Polly’s waist to pull her in close. “Well what? Are you bored of me already, Miss Polly?”

“Oh no, never, I just... thought you wanted to dance to a fast song.”

“No, I just wanted to dance with you.”

“Oh...oh ok, that’s cool.”

“Yep….”

A silence settled over the conversation until Mal seemed to spark on something. “So, birds,” she said as she twirled Polly around.

“Yes, birds.”

“Are they that interesting?”

“Well, I mean, it really started with my brother. He likes to paint things and his favorites are birds. He knows all of their names and can copy most of their calls. So when I went to college I just figured I would study birds so I could have something in common with my brother. Also I’m going to inherit the family coffee shop when I grow up anyway, so I don’t really need a hard degree….” She trailed off as she realized she had started to babble.

“That’s so awesome,” said Mal softly, smiling down at her. Polly was just now realizing that Maladicta was a couple inches taller than her.

“So,” Polly said, blushing slightly, “what about you? Why’d you settle on law school?”

“Oh, you know… it pays well.”

“Really? That’s it?”

“There’s also, well… it was a bit of an… expectation. It’s what my family wanted me to do.”

Polly frowned. “And what do you want to do?”

Maladicta shrugged and flashed her a quick grin. “Not sure yet.”

The song ended, and they drew away from each other a little, both slightly flushed.

“That was… nice,” Mal said.

Polly nodded. “Yeah, um… I’m going to go grab a drink.” Maladicta watched her receding back, and smiled. Polly acquired some strange drink from the drinks table and started back to find the girls. She reached them just as one of Shufti’s favorite songs came on and so was met with a shriek that would have broken eardrums if the base wasn’t already so loud. Polly smiled. Tonight would be fun, and maybe she would get to dance with Maladicta a few more times.

As it turned out, though, she just ended up just dancing with the group as the music seemed to get louder and louder. At 1 she and the group stumbled home. She was the last one to get to her room as she insisted on tucking in everyone else before going back to her dorm.

\- - -

Polly opened up the cafe at 5 the next morning, even with her head hammering like a drum. Jackrum wandered in around 5:30 and resumed his usual seat in the corner, and Shufti came in a few minutes later for her shift. Without meaning to, Polly found herself checking the clock every five minutes to see if it was 6:15 yet.

Maladicta was, of course, as punctual as ever. She looked even more undead than most mornings, with deep purple circles under her eyes and her hair hanging limply over her shoulders.

“Morning, Mal!” Polly said cheerfully, handing over her usual. Mal just groaned and took a large gulp of coffee.

“Thank you, Polly,” she breathed as the caffeine flooded her system. She handed over a five-dollar bill, and Polly turned to the register to get change. “Are you eating breakfast here this morning?”

“Probably,” Polly replied, handing over her change.

“If you do, feel free to join me.”

Polly smiled. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.” She took another swig of coffee and retreated to her normal seat.

The next half-hour passed much the same as always. Igorina came in to try the pumpkin chai she hadn’t gotten yesterday, before rushing to the library to study for yet another Bio test.

A little while later the shop bell dinged again, and Polly looked up, expecting to see Wazzer. Instead, the customer was a man she’d never seen before. He looked to be in his early thirties, faintly plump, and he had fluffy golden curls, thick glasses, and an owlish expression that seemed to be permanently glued to his face. He wore a burgundy sweater vest and a brown bow tie over a button-down and khakis, and clutched a thick book in one hand as he approached the counter.

“Good morning,” Polly greeted him.

The man looked a little surprised to have been spoken to. “Ah, yes. Good morning.”

“What can I get for you?”

“A cup of cocoa, please.”

“Coming right up.”

As Polly turned away to make the drink the bell chimed again. This was Wazzer. She quickly handed the man his drink, and he murmured a thank you and bustled over to a table by the corner, where he opened his book and became instantly engrossed by it.

“Hi, Polly,” Wazzer said, cheerfully.

“Hey, Wazzer. One chamomile tea, coming right up.”

As she took Wazzer’s money she asked, “Hey, do you know who that man was who came in before you?”

“Oh, him? He’s the new librarian, I think. Mr. Azzerbale, or something. He seems quite nice. I saw him at chapel services last Sunday.”

Polly nodded. “He looks like a librarian. Here you go.”

“Thanks, Polly.” She took her tea and sat down. Having a few minutes before the couple arrived, Polly quickly grabbed a bagel and made her way over to Mal’s already-claimed table.

“Anyone sitting here?” She parroted Mal’s question of yesterday.

“Of course not,” Mal said with a grin. “Did you sleep well last night?

Polly sat down with a grimace. “Not particularly. You?”

“Not bad. My schedule rather lends itself to late nights, so the hour wasn’t too much of a problem for me.”

She nodded. “I guess it was just a bit more excitement than I’m used to.”

Mal quirked an eyebrow at her. “Was it?”

For some reason the question made her blush. “Well, you know. I just don’t go out much.” Polly stared down at her bagel. “I liked our dance, though.”

She said it very quietly, and so was surprised when Mal responded quietly with, “Me too.” The door chimed loudly, startling both out of their thoughts.

“Hi, Tonker. Lofty.” Polly hurried back behind the counter.

“Hey, Polly. You know the drill.”

Polly nodded and began preparing their coffee and tea. As she handed them to Tonker the door opened, and a disheveled whirlwind of papers blew in.

“Oh, Dear Lord,” Polly said under her breath. “Not Professor Blouse.”

Tonker dodged out of the way with her drinks just as Professor Blouse flopped down onto the counter.

“Morning, Professor Blouse,” Polly sighed. Over his shoulder she saw Maladicta making half-amused grimaces at her.

“Polly.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Polly.”

“Yes, sir?”

“Do I have a class today, Polly?”

“No, sir. It’s Saturday, remember?” Her tone was that of someone speaking to a small child.

“Oh. Jolly good. Could you get me… erm… whatever it is I usually have?”

“Of course, sir.”

Polly shook her head and set about making his chai latte, as he made a vain attempt to make himself look presentable. His clothes were wrinkled and looked as though he had shoved himself into them only five minutes before, and it didn’t look as though he’d even glanced in the mirror that morning.

“Did you remember to shave this morning, sir?” she asked, handing him his drink.

“Shave?” He ran a hand across his scruffy jaw. “Oh…. No, it seems to have slipped my mind….”

“That’s alright, sir, you look… um… fine. That’ll be three twenty-five.”

“Oh, yes….” He pushed a five into her palm. “Keep the change, Polly.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Blouse stumbled over to a table and sipped at his drink nervously. Polly sighed and rolled her eyes at Mal. She didn’t really dislike Professor Blouse. It was impossible to dislike someone so helpless. He was just a little… exhausting, that was all. Polly had never had a class with him, but everyone said he was a brilliant military history teacher. Polly didn’t doubt it. She could tell he was very intelligent. But he was also exhausting.

Mal came up to the counter again, clutching her mug tightly in both hands. “Another, please, Polly?” Her eyes were pleading. Polly thought to herself that Mal brought new meaning to the phrase “puppy dog eyes.” She took the mug from her and turned away, biting her lip to fight back a grin.

“No wonder you have such late nights, with all the coffee you drink,” she teased.

“I can’t help it! Coffee is the nectar of the gods, Polly!” Her expression was completely earnest.

“Here you go,” she said, in a tone that suggested she was doing this against her better judgment. “Just don’t come running to me when it’s 3 am and you can’t sleep a wink.”

“But if I can’t come running to you, dear Polly, who can I come running to?” She gave Polly another of her brilliant grins and walked back to her table.

Jade stumbled in a few minutes later with a couple of her Rugby friends. “My regular please Polly, and whatever they want,” She said with a grin.

“I would like a bagel.”

“Croissant for me please.”

“Is that a double chocolate muffin? One of those please.”

The orders came one right after the other with Polly scribbling furiously. “Would you like anything on any of that?”

“Cream cheese for me.”  
“Toasted with butter please.”

“I would like a side of butter.”

“Will that be all?”

“Yes! Thank you.”

“That will be 28 dollars,” she said to Jade. Jade smiled and handed over the money as her friends went off to find a table.

“How was the party?”

“Loud,” said Polly with a grin.

“You know I had a feeling it would be.”

“You missed drunk Shufti. Apparently she gets very handsy when she’s drunk.”

“Well, then I’m happy I was asleep when you guys got back,” said Jade as Polly slid her drink across the counter.  

“Have a fun time with your friends.”

“Thanks, Polly.”

Polly watched as Jade made her way over to her friends. She smiled at Mal and then glanced over at Professor Blouse, who had apparently fallen asleep at his table. Shufti trotted out of the kitchen to stand next to Polly at the register. She bumped shoulders with her and asked, “Any requests on the confections of the day?”

“I was thinking maybe you could make the pumpkin muffins again. They seemed to go really fast last time. Oh, or you could make your amazing cheesecake.”

“Or,” said Shufti with a grin, “I could make both?”

“That works,” Polly said, grinning back at her. The bells chimed above the door, signaling another visitor. It was a sharply dressed man who, for some reason, was wearing sunglasses even though it was winter, and so was that almost constant overcast that you get in winter.

“Good morning, how may I help you?” Polly said with her customer smile. The man seemed not to notice her. He was staring in awe at the new librarian.

“Sir?” Polly prompted again. That seemed to jump him out of his reverie.

“Um, yes, I would like your best wine, please.”

“We’re a coffee shop, sir, we don’t sell wine. We sell coffee.”

“Ok, then I’ll have an empty cup, please.” As he said this he seemed to pull a bottle out of thin air. Polly glanced at Jackrum, who shrugged and went back to drinking his tea. Polly looked sideways at Shufti, who also shrugged. It was going to be one of those days, she thought. Wordlessly she handed over the mug. The coffee shop did bring in all the weird ones, she thought. The man sat down at the counter and poured himself a large helping from the wine bottle.

“May I also ask you for the name of the man sitting over there reading?” he said, and Polly could make out a thin blush underneath the sunglasses.

“I don’t really-”

“His name is Aziraphale,” cut in Shufti, “he’s the new librarian, from what I’ve heard.” The man hummed and took a sip of his wine.

“Very good looking, isn’t he?” Polly added. The man’s eyes shot to her’s. She smiled back at him. If he was going to drink wine in her coffee shop, she might as well have a little fun. Polly heard a tap on the counter and turned to see Mal’s smiling face.

“Please, sir, may I have some more?”

“This is your third extra large cup, Mal. Maybe you want to slow down some?” she said, even as she took the mug and filled it to the brim.

“Yeah, maybe one day.” Mal grinned and made grabby hands for the cup. Polly handed it over and smiled at the girl. She was never getting to sleep tonight.

“Are you going to come sit with me again?”

“Maybe around lunch. I think I’m gonna see if I can help this alcoholic over here with his love life.”

“I’m not an alcoholic!” piped the man.

“Yeah, sure. That why you’re drinking wine at 11 o’clock in the morning?” That seemed to quiet him down at least. He sat there and stared into his wine mug. She would let him stew for a couple more minutes; right now she really would much rather talk to Mal. “Yeah, I’ll be over soon. Want me to bring you anything to eat, seeing as you’ve only had coffee since the morning?”

“That would be amazing of you. Thanks, Polly.”

“Sure. Now you,” she said turning back to the man, “what is your name, because I can’t keep thinking of you as the alcoholic.”

“Not an alcoholic,” he muttered under his breath.

“Then stop drinking at 11 in the morning in a coffee shop!” she exclaimed.

“If you must know, my name is Crowley.”

Polly put her elbows on the counter and leaned down towards him. “Well. Crowley. If you think the librarian is such hot stuff, why don’t you just go over there and ask him out?”

Crowley rolled his eyes at her. “I could ask you the same thing.”

She blinked. “What?”

“The girl who was just up here. Tall, dark hair, not bad looking if I’m any judge. You’re obviously infatuated with her. I could smell the pheromones from here.”

Polly scowled at him. “I’m not- Look, don’t change the subject!”

Crowley grinned a wolfish smile at her and sipped his wine. “Don’t get in my business, I can handle myself. I like to take things slow.”

“Yeah, very slow,” replied Polly. Crowley stuck out his tongue at her.


	2. Dinners There Seem to be a Lot of That

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long break but finals hit right after we put up the last chapter and so things got a little heck tick. But here is your next chapter anyway for those of you following along at home :D Thanks again for reading.

The rest of the weekend passed much as Polly expected, in a blur of coffee and homework. Monday morning, too, was almost entirely predictable, as she spent it at work again, preparing orders for all the regulars. The regulars, she noticed smugly, now seemed to include both the new librarian and Crowley, although Crowley was still stubbornly refusing to talk to Aziraphale.

Monday afternoon she had biology class. Her teacher was Professor Level--a slim, slightly harried-looking woman who sometimes had a habit of trailing off in the middle of a sentence with a far away look in her eyes. Still, Polly rather liked her. She  _ was _ very knowledgeable, and always willing to spend some time assisting students after class.

“And now, of course, we move on to reptiles, which, as you can see….” She trailed off, her gaze fixed at the back of the classroom. Polly thought she had lost her train of thought until she suddenly exclaimed, “Mr. Nobbs? Is that you?”

Polly whipped around in her seat. There he was, in the very back row, his face almost entirely consumed with beard. Polly had seen him occasionally around campus, mostly stealing food from the dining hall and sleeping in places he shouldn’t have. No one seemed to know what to call him, except for Nobby, or where he lived, and most of the general populace was entirely content with this arrangement.

Nobby didn’t answer her. Polly was fairly certain he was asleep, although his eyes did seem to be open….

After Bio Polly headed to her Calculus class. This class was taught by Professor Rincewind, who was an odd one indeed. Polly wasn’t exactly a fan of his. He had attempted to con her into giving him free coffee several times, although she’d been having none of it. He also had a habit of teaching in a rather circuitous route, so that it was often twenty minutes or more before he actually answered what was supposed to be a five-minute question. Still, at least he got there eventually.

After she made it through the weird maze that was Professor Rincewind’s class, she was free. Her Monday was pretty free for the most part. Her Botany 101 class met on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays while her Photography 101 class met once a week on Tuesdays for four hours. Biology and Calculus were her classes that met the most, as in every day but Wednesday. 

Polly trudged back to her dorm. Listening to Professor Rincewind always  left her feeling drained. Falling on her bed, she let out a sigh of contentment. A small nap wouldn’t hurt, she thought, as she drifted into sleep 

**\- - -**

A pounding startled her from sleep. 

“Polly, we were supposed to go to dinner together,” called Shufti from the other side of the door. Polly groaned; she had completely forgotten. Shufti had texted her in the middle of Calc (never a good idea if you wanted Polly to remember) asking if she would want to go to dinner with the rest of the regulars. Polly had conceded that she would go after Shufti’s threat to blow up her phone with texts if she refused. Polly suspected there was a reason Shufti wanted her to come to dinner, but she couldn’t figure out what it was until she opened her door to find Mal standing sheepishly against the far wall (well, it would be sheepish if sheep had different teeth).  Polly scrambled to smooth down her hair and straighten her shirt without looking like an idiot. 

“Hey, Mal,” Polly squeaked hoping her hair didn’t look to much like a birds nest. The problem with short hair was that while you slept it liked to become a representation of what would happen in a windstorm. 

“Hey, Polly,” said Shufi to her left, snapping Polly out of her staring match with Mal’s lips. Polly turned to look at her and Shufti winked when their eyes met. Oh, that can’t be good, she thought. 

The walk to the dining hall was quiet. Shufti seemed to be engrossed in her phone and so was always a few feet back, while Polly had nothing to really say and Mal was being her constantly stoic self. The wind picked up, blowing right through Polly as she had forgotten her jacket in her hurry. She shivered and noticed a shadow beside her. Turning, she saw Mal moving closer to offer her jacket. 

Polly smiled. “No thanks ,I’ll be fine. Just wasn’t expecting it to be this cold.”

“Yeah, it’s feels like winter already.”

They fell back into silence as they reached the main doors of the dining hall. Mal, getting to the door first, held it open for the rest of them. Polly nodded at Mal and Shufti jogged the short length to the door so that Mal didn’t have to stand there too long. 

“Thanks, Mal,” Shufti said with a grin.

“No problem, Shufti.”

They had decided on one of the smaller dining halls, as the bigger ones normally got really crowded around this time and they wanted to hear one another. This dining hall was set up with only one spacious floor. The walls were crowded with separate vendors.  You could swipe your card at any of them, but if you wanted something that wasn’t here you had to go to one of the other dining halls, which had more choices but were finickier with the the payment options. Mal went straight to the Starbucks on the far side of the hall to get a bagel and a coffee. Polly quite liked the sandwiches at the sub place over by the wings joint, and Shufti went for soup, saying that she wanted something to warm her up. After Polly had gotten her sandwich from the very tired looking girl behind the counter she scoured the crowd for her friends. Jade waved her down from a seat by the window. 

“Hey, Polly,” Jade said, beaming at her. Her plate of wings lay forgotten before her. 

“Hey, Jade,” said Polly. Looking around the table she found that Wazzer, Igorina, and the Couple had already beaten her there. She gave them all warm smiles. “The others will be coming over in a bit. Sorry we’re late.”

“No sweat,” piped up Tonker. “We all just go here, too.” Her hand was on the back of Lofty’s chair and they seemed to be sharing a plate of chicken fingers and fries; even the milkshake placed between them had two straws. Polly smiled to herself. Wazzer was eating a salad, while Igorina had gotten sausages and was deconstructing them more than she was actually eating them. 

“Do you have to play with your food?” Inquired Mal as she sat down next to Polly.

“I’m not playing with it,” she said indignantly. “I’m trying to see if I can differentiate the different kinds of meat. See this is obviously part of a pig's stomach lining going by the col---”

She was cut off by the communal groan from the table. 

“Please, just don’t,” pleaded Polly. Igorina subsided into quietly sulking as she continued to pick apart her sausages. Shufti sat down across the table from Polly in between Igorina and Wazzer. 

“So, Shufti, why did you want us all to have dinner together?” asked Polly.

“I thought it would be fun to hang out with everyone outside of the cafe,” she said with a big grin. The table lapsed into silence as they all focused on their food. Eventually Igorina got bored of ripping apart her food and decided she actually wanted to eat it. Mal went back for two more cups of coffee before conversation started up again. Even Jade had finished her giant helping of wings and went back for seconds before anyone broke the silence. 

“So…” ventured Wazzer, “how was everyone’s day? I hope it was lovely for everyone.” She beamed at them. 

“Mine was great!” Jade exclaimed. “Well, I had to get up at 5 for practice but then I was able to go back to sleep for a while, so that was good. Then I got my coffee,” she said with a nod to Polly, “which was as good as always. And then…” She continued on some more but Polly had stopped listening. Mal had made it to the end of her bagel and was now picking off the cream cheese from the wrapping, one finger scoop at a time....

“How was your day, Polly?” asked Jade, jolting her out of her reverie. 

“Oh… uh… yeah, it was good...um, fine.... yeah,” she coughed and sent Jade a rather wobbly smile. Jade beamed back at her.

“Did you do anything fun?”

“Um… no not really. Just my normal Monday schedule. I had bio, math, and my morning shift in the coffee shop. Nothing much of note. How about you, Mal?”

“Oh, you know, my day was spent mostly in the coffee shop like usual. I did have my English class today but other than that my day was pretty slow. But I do like having dinner with everyone. Why don’t we do it again?”

“I would like that a lot.” muttered Lofty. Tonker squeezed her shoulder. 

“I’m ok with it if she is.” 

“Me too,” piped up Wazzer. They all sat around and smiled at eachother for a good couple of minutes until Polly’s face started to hurt. 

“Well, I have an evening practice. I will see you all tomorrow morning,” said Jade. After a while the rest meandered off for their own reasons. Wazzer had homework. Lofty and Tonker had theater. Shufti wanted to practice a few more recipes before she had to start her homework. Finally it was just Polly and Mal. 

“Well, I do have some work…” Polly said, trailing off. She was secretly hoping hoping Mal would ask her to hang out. 

“Yeah, me too...Hey, do you have my cell phone number?”

“No I don’t think so.”

“Well then, let’s change that,” said Mal with a wink. Polly blushed but handed over her phone when Mal handed over her own. “See you tomorrow, Polly.”

“Yeah, see you, Mal,” she mumbled as the girl walked away. She was to preoccupied staring at the really long name in her phone. I mean, who had three middle names? After a bit she managed to shake herself out of her reverie, reminding herself that she really did have work she had to do. Her fingers itched to text Mal as soon as possible, but she didn’t want to seem clingy, so she just walked back to her dorm. 

**\- - -**

Thirty calculus problems and half a bio lab later she wanted to kill someone, either that or down the entire bag of chocolates she had stashed in her desk. Her dad had sent them for finals week, but she couldn’t see the harm in eating a few before their time. Besides, who would know? She was in a single and really needed some chocolate. Just then her phone buzzed. She had left it plugged in on the other side of the room to try and make herself focus, but all it did was make her hyper aware of when it went off. Getting up she groaned from having been in one position for so long. She stretched and walked across the rather small bedroom. The room had more in common with a shoe box than actual living conditions, but she didn’t care. She was used to small places. Her phone did the annoying thing of turning off right as you get to it. Turning it back on she found one new text from Mal, or at least the ridiculously long name that meant Mal. I really should change that, she thought. She opened the text and stared at it for a bit. 

**_Hey, Polly look what i figured out how to do! *Coffee Emoji*_ **

As Polly watched four more coffee emojis appeared in her inbox. Damn, she thought, this girl is a fucking nerd. 

**_*Coffee Emoji* x8_ **

Polly put down her phone and went back to work. By the time she finally gave up on the lab she had 14 more coffee emojis from Mal. This girl really likes coffee was her last thought as she drifted to sleep. 

**\- - -**

Tuesday was her longest day, as she had her Photography class for four hours in the morning, and her bio and calc class in the afternoon. She normally would have a late night shift at the coffee shop, but she was taking the night off tonight. These nights were normally pretty slow except for the odd regular who would come in if they had an essay due the next day. Most of the time she would just stand at the counter and do her homework. Jackrum didn’t mind. He normally just spent the time reading or telling her tales of his old life. Her favorites were the ones from when he was in the army. Tales of battle and glory that if she had to take a bet were all made up. But they gave her something to focus on that wasn’t the slow moving of the clock hands. 

Her photography class was taught by a thin man called Otto Chriek. He always dressed nicely, but he had this odd habit of making noises when he took pictures. Noises that made it sound like the pictures were hurting him. He liked old cameras--the kind that took minutes to set up and minutes to take a picture with--but he had taught Polly how to take beautiful pictures of birds and for that she was grateful. AMU actually gave money to the arts, and so the class was outfitted with a fair number of digital cameras, which Polly preferred. Polly spent most of the class time outside, preferring to take pictures of birds rather than artsy still lifes like the rest of the class. 

The outside air whipped against her face, causing her to dig her face further into the scarf around her throat. It was a big red and gold one that her father had gotten her before she went away to college. She quite liked it, seeing as it was warm and big enough to cover most of her face while she was out in the cold wind taking pictures. A buzzard sat still on a branch a few feet away. She had somehow managed to sneak up this close to it, and was just raising her camera to her eye when a voice called to her and the bird was startled from its perch. 

“Polly!” She turned to see who had ruined her shot. Mal was walking toward her, waving. Prettier than a bird she thought, and snapped the shot. “What you up to, Pol?”

“Oh, I was trying to take a picture of this buzzard for photography class, but then it flew away.”

“Oh, sorry, was that my fault?”

“No, no, it would have flown away anyway. I was to close. Anyway, I like the picture of you a whole lot better,” she said with a smile as she showed the picture to Mal.

“Wow, Polly, you’re really good at this. You should do this professionally or something.”

She laughed. “Oh no, I couldn’t. I just like doing it in my free time. I’m nothing compared to real photographers. By the way, what are you doing? I normally don’t see you out and about at this time.”

“Oh yeah, my history class got out early. So I decided to go to the library to do some studying. My teacher’s very odd. She went off topic the other day, and talked about flying screws for a good 15 minutes before she went back to the formation of the chalk lands.” 

“That does seem a little odd, yes.”

“But it’s a fun class. Do you like your classes?”

“Yeah, they’re all pretty fun except my Calc class. My professor seems to think that answering a question has to take half and hour and if it doesn’t you have to stretch it so it does. But other than that my classes are really fun,” Polly said with a grin. “I really must get back to my picture, though.” 

“Have fun.” Mal waved as she half jogged back to the path, and once again Polly couldn’t stop herself from taking a picture of the girl, freezing her for all time with her hand in the air and her black hair flying out behind her, making her look like some beautiful queen waving to her subjects. 

**\- - -**

Polly sat on her bed staring at two different outfits. One was a dark red top and short overalls, and the other a gray long sleeve shirt and a blue skirt. She groaned and snatched up the overalls. They would cover her up well enough and not make her look like she was trying too hard. Even though she was putting on new clothes to just go and have dinner, which was a new one for her. A knock came from the door just as she finished shimmying into her new outfit. Grabbing her jacket, she headed for the door. Mal was on the other side, alone.

“Where’s Shufti?”

“Said she had to talk to Igorina about something,” said Mal, shrugging. 

“Oh…” It made sense. It just meant that she and Mal were conveniently left alone. Mal softly hummed to herself as they walked. It was nice; the slight chill in the air, the glow from the street lamps, and the soft sound of Mal’s humming. It would be a perfect picture if only she had her camera. 

“Hey, Polly, did you ever get that picture of the bird you were going for?”

“No, it flew away, but it’s ok. I got pictures of other birds.”

“Oh, ok. Sorry if I was the reason it flew away. I just saw you and really wanted to say hi to you.”

“It’s ok, really. I would rather talk to you than take pictures of birds. Besides, the bird will come back. They always do.” 

Mal pursed her lips but dropped the subject. “So what are you going to do with your ornithology major?”

“I don’t know yet. I was thinking maybe travel? Study migration patterns?”

“Hmmm…”

“What about you and your law major?”

“Gonna join the family practice. Can’t get out of that one.” They lapsed into comfortable silence as they walked on to the dining hall. The rest of the gang was at the table when they reached it, all of them having gotten food already. They all sounded hellos as the two sat down with their own food. 

“How was your day, Mal?” asked Wazzer from behind her large pile of lettuce.

“I heard your history class got out early,” chimed in Tonker.

“Yeah, how did you know?”

“My friend Tiffany is in that class.”

“You mean the girl with the witch’s hat? Who’s always wearing black? And is rumored to be the only girl allowed into the Feegle Frat? That girl’s your friend?” Jade inquired from the other side of the table. “God, I would love to meet her just to shake her hand,” she said almost dreamily. 

“Yeah, we live a few doors down from her,” said Lofty quietly, as she snuggled closer to  Tonker. 

“So?”

“So, what?”

“Is she the only girl in the Feegle Frat?”

“Oh yes, she just brought them some of her grandmother's old turpentine and they let her right in. Said it was the best damn stuff they ever had and that it gets them drunk real quick,” Tonker said with a grin. “She’s a real badass. Doesn’t take shit from anyone. You would like her, Polly.” 

“She does sound like an interesting character.”

“I’ll bring her along to the coffee shop next time we come.”

“So tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” Tonker said with a flash of a grin. Polly went back to her burger. It was really quite a good burger, but she couldn’t concentrate on anything besides the leg pressed softly against hers. Mal shifted in her seat and the leg shifted with her, pressing just a little harder than before. Polly coughed and the leg disappeared. Polly smiled to herself. Really, footsie? What a nerd. 

She glanced over and caught Mal sneaking a peek at her out of the corner of her eye. She smiled, in what she hoped was a casual fashion. Mal smiled back and snitched one of the fries from her plate.

“Hey!” Polly exclaimed, grinning.

“You saw nothing,” Mal declared, dunking the fry liberally in ketchup. Lofty coughed from the other side of the table. 

“Oh just something in my throat,” when they looked up at her. The look she was shooting Polly was perhaps a tad too inquisitive for her liking. Tonker smothered her grin in her soda.

“You know what, I’ve got piles of homework to do,” Mal sighed, getting slowly to her feet. “See you all later.” She gathered up her dishes and left the table, leaving Polly to wonder whether the way her hand brushed against her shoulder was intentional.

Shufti sat down in Mal’s vacated chair, and Igorina sat down next to Jade. “Sorry we’re late,” Igorina said. “One of my experiments seems to be… missing….”

“What did we miss?” Shufti said hurriedly, breaking into the silence left by Igorina’s declaration.

“Well, Polly and Mal have been eye-fucking pretty thoroughly all evening,” Tonker said with a grin.

Polly felt her face go scarlet. “We were not-”

“Even I noticed, Polly,” piped up Wazzer. Polly sulked behind her burger. 

The text alert on Polly’s phone dinged. She glanced down at it to find Mal’s impossibly long name scrolling across the screen.  _ I forgot to grab another cup of coffee D: _

“Ooh, who’s that?” Igorina teased. “Is she missing you already?”

“No, for your information it was Jackrum, asking if I could come in to work,” she lied.

The gang groaned sympathetically.

“That sucks,” Shufti said, wrinkling her nose.

Polly shrugged. “At least it pays well. See you later.”

She brought her dishes to the dish return and hurried out of the dining hall. It took her about ten minutes to get to the shop, and Jackrum looked up as she entered.

“Hello, Polly. You’re not working tonight, are you?”

“No, just here to grab a coffee.”

“Medium with milk, right?”

“Nope, large black, please.”

“You pulling an all-nighter?”

“No, it’s… for a friend.” Polly hoped to high-heaven Jackrum couldn’t tell she was blushing.

He nodded, seemingly oblivious. “Alright, then. Coming right up.”

He deftly prepared the drink, and Polly was grateful for his usual taciturn nature. She paid him wordlessly, and murmured a thank you before rushing out the door, coffee in hand.

She felt an anxious feeling in the pit of her stomach as she headed towards Mal’s dorm. What if she was imposing? What if Mal thought she was creepy for coming to her room?

At last she found herself in front of her door. She took a moment to run her fingers through her hair and compose herself before she knocked. 

Mal opened the door with a bemused expression on her face, which turned to shock when she saw Polly.

“P-polly? What are you doing here?”

“I brought you coffee.” She thrust out the cup awkwardly.

“Oh...thanks. You didn’t have to.”

“I know.”

Mal took a sip, and her eyes widened. “This is from the coffee shop! Polly, you shouldn’t have. You could have just brought me some from the dining hall.”

Polly snorted derisively, her embarrassment swallowed by indignation. “The dining hall’s coffee is piss water.”

Mal grinned. “Yeah, it really is. Thanks so much, Polly. You made my night so much better.”

Polly blushed. “Don’t mention it. I know what your workload’s like.”

“Well, it seems a lot lighter now.” She closed her eyes to savor another sip. 

Polly grinned. “Well, I’d better let you get back to work.”

“...oh. I suppose…but you know…. if you want to stay, you know, you can stay,”

“Yeah, but I kind of do have a lot of homework to do. Sorry, Mal.”

“It’s ok. Thanks for the coffee. See you tomorrow.” With this she closed her door. Polly walked back to her dorm, hoping tomorrow would come sooner. 


	3. College students need sleep

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so I know I promised this would go up sooner, really sorry about that. It has been a long/hard couple of weeks. But hey at least we got it up at all. Thanks again for following along and staying with us for so long. Hope you like it :D

Chapter 3

Polly awoke to her alarm going off right in her ear. She reached for it and found it to be on the wrong side of her head. Raising her head to find the damn alarm, she came to realize that she fell asleep in her textbook while studying. Thankfully she had not drooled. She hit her alarm to silence it and got up, stretching out her sore muscles. She had to be at the coffee shop in 20 minutes. She slammed her book closed and shoved into her bag. Then she changed out of yesterday's clothes and went to brush her teeth. She’d always believed herself to be a morning person, but she was seriously doubting that at the moment. 

She slid in the front door at 5 right on the dot. She wished she hadn’t stayed up all last night studying; she was sure she looked awful. She started the coffee, turned on the heat, and did the prep list. The daily prep list told Shufti what they needed in the front display and kept track of what other little chores needed to be done around the place. Polly sighed down at the list. Thankfully it wasn’t long today, but she just didn’t feel like doing any of the things that need to be done. The door tinkled. She looked up to see Jackrum walk in, with Shufti close on his heels. Jackrum walked behind the counter to take the prep list from her.  Shufti peered over his shoulder. Jackrum passed her the list and moved to start making his usual rose tea. After it was done he would pour a good shot of whiskey into while Polly gave him a disapproving look. 

“Not a lot to do today, huh?” he asked from his place in front of the heating water. Jackrum liked to make his tea in a kettle instead of heating the water in the microwave. He said that it tasted different, better the slower way. Polly suspected that he just liked to watch the flames lick up the side of the kettle. 

“For you, maybe,” griped Shufti. “I have a dozen muffins to make, a whole coffee cake, and I need to start prepping for the soup. And that doesn’t even include what I actually want to make today.”

“Well, then you should stop complaining and get working, shouldn’t you?” Jackrum replied. Shufti stuck out her tongue at him and disappeared into her kitchen. Polly chuckled as she started preparing Mal’s coffee. The snicker was cut short though when Jackrum asked, “So are you dating that girl yet?”

If Polly had been drinking when she was asked that question she would have covered the coffee machine in liquid. Instead she just spluttered at Jackrum. 

“No…” she squeaked when she finally got her voice back. She was embarrassed and a little confused. “Why?”

“Oh please, Polly, half of the campus knows that you like that girl and the other half doesn’t care. You have been mooning over her for weeks now. Grow some and go get her.” Having said everything he wanted, Jackrum took his cup and slouched off to his usual seat. Polly clicked her tongue as she watched him pour in his whiskey. She was distracted by the door tinkling for the second time that day. Mal walked to the counter with a smile just for Polly. 

“Have my usual?”

“Right here,” she said with a smile. As Mal took the cup their hands brushed. Polly’s eyes shot up to see that Mal’s face was just as red as her’s felt. A loud cough came from behind Polly, making her jump. Shufti’s smile was tight as she scootched past to put the muffins in the case. 

“You know…” Shufti started, but didn’t finish. She just turned on her heel and headed back into the kitchen. 

“What do you think that was about?” Mal said as her eyebrows knit together in confusion. Polly thought she looked adorable like that. 

“Hell if I know,” Polly replied. 

“Well...anyway... do you have anything you have to do tonight?”

“Um...no?” Polly felt a little light headed. Was what she thought was happening happening? She could hear her heart in her ears.

“Oh, just wondering…. See you at dinner.” With that Mal turned and walked to her normal table. Polly wanted to slam her head into the counter, or throw something at Mal’s beautiful face. Luckily she had Botany soon so she didn’t have to spend much time staring at her face and wondering what she wanted to ask her. Polly sighed and started making Igorina’s drink as something to do. When she was done Igorina was standing on the other side of the counter giving her this calculating look, like she was trying to figure out how long it would take her to dissect Polly. The look made Polly squirm. 

“Ask her out already,” Igorina whispered across the counter. 

“What?” Polly blushed.

“Shhh!” Igorina said with a glance over at Mal, who thankfully had put her earbuds in and so couldn’t anything they were saying. “If I have to hear one more rant about how she could never get on your league because you are so beautiful and perfect and Ig have you seen her face or hey Ig did you know that she does photography God isn’t my Polly so cool and artsy. I mean Jesus she is either with you or talking about you. Please just get with her already.”

Polly stared at Igorina for a few minutes trying to take in the information that was just laid upon her. Mal liked her enough to rant at Igorina? Mal liked her? Polly blinded at Igorina. The girl huffed, “It wouldn’t hurt you, you know?”

“Yeah...I know.”

“Good...well, think about it, will you please?”

“Yeah...sure,” Polly watched her leave in a dase. Mal liked her? It was the only thing in her mind just going around and around. Shufti tapped her on the shoulder making her jump. 

“You Ok, Polly?”

“Yeah...fine...just got some news I wasn’t expecting, that’s all.” Her voice trailed off at the end.

Polly spent the rest of her shift alternating between bouts of fluffy daydreams and palm-sweating nervousness as she contemplated what Igorina had told her. She only realized that her shift had ended five minutes before her Botany class started. She whispered a curse as she grabbed her bag and flew out the door, without even pausing to say goodbye to Jackrum.

AMU had a rather extensive greenhouse, full of many kinds of exotic flora. Polly had been quite stunned by it the first time she had class. Even so, she hadn’t remembered quite this many plants; as she approached the greenhouse it seemed as though the windows were almost entirely obscured by verdant growth. She entered, perplexed, to find the greenhouse empty except for… Crowley?

“What are you doing here?” she blurted out. His expensive suit and dark glasses seemed very incongruous with their earthy surroundings.

Crowley turned to face her with an expression of dawning horror. “Oh fuck, not you!”

Polly would have been offended by this if it did not perfectly mirror her own sentiments at the moment. “Where’s Professor Hogswatch?”

“He’s… taking a leave of absence. For personal reasons. I’m taking over for him in the meantime.”

Polly snorted. “You?”

“Yeah, me. And it’s Professor Crowley to you, now.”

“But what do you know about botany?”

“What do I  _ not _ know about botany, you mean. Look at how the plants have taken off since I took over.”

Polly shrugged and set her bag down at her table. “Well I hope you know more about plants than you do about librarians, anyway.”

Crowley scowled. “Well I hope you know more about plants than you do about law students!”

“Well, at least I know my crush likes me!”

“But you still haven’t done anything about it, have you?”

She crossed her arms. “Can I get extra credit if I figure out a way to hook you up with Aziraphale?”

“No, and you’re about two seconds away from me failing you.”

“That’s abuse of power!”

“See if I care.”

Polly huffed and got out her books. Soon the other students filed in and unpacked their things. One of her fellows greeted Crowley cheerfully as he entered.

“Hello, Adam!” Crowley replied, more genially than Polly thought was possible for him. “How are your parents doing?”

“Really well, thanks!” He took his place next to Polly.

“You know him?” Polly whispered.

“Yeah, he’s an old family friend.”

“Weird.”

As they transplanted apple trees later in class, Polly turned to Adam again. “Hey, have you met the new librarian yet?”

“Oh, yes! Aziraphale’s another old friend of ours.” 

Polly stared at him for a moment before shaking herself mentally. “Anyway, don’t you think they’d be perfect for each other?”

Adam frowned for a moment. “You know, you’re right.”

“Great. You can be in on it then.”

“In on what?”

“The plan we’re about to come up with to get the two of them together.”

Adam grinned. There was something slightly alarming about that grin. “Oh, yes! Let’s!”

**\- - -**

Polly ended class with a withering glance at Crowley, which he instantly returned. As she headed out the door she whipped her phone out of her pocket. Crowley’s goading had annoyed her enough that she was willing to take steps to spite him. She sent off a text to Mal.  _ Hey, did you want to hang out tonight? _

Her heart pounded as she pressed “send”. She kept her phone in her hand as she walked back to the dorm, eagerly awaiting the reply, but she was halfway through her biology homework before her text alert sounded, making her heart skip a beat. She snatched up her phone to find Mal’s reply staring back at her.  _ Can’t tonight, sorry. _

Polly’s heart sank into the vicinity of her knees.  _ No problem :) _ She sighed and went back to her homework. She continued doing homework until Shufti came to collect her for dinner. To her dismay she found that Mal wasn’t there, either.

“Hey,” she began, trying to sound casual, “does anyone know what’s up with Mal today?”

“I think she’s doing homework. Why?” Igorina asked. 

“No reason. Is she alright?”

Igorina shrugged. “As much as Mal ever is, I suppose.”

Polly frowned. “What do you mean?”

“It’s just that Mal is… under a lot of pressure, you know, from her family.”

“Oh.”

Tonker stared at her from across the table with a knowing smile. “Why don’t you go bring her some coffee?”

Polly consider this for a bit, “No, I would only get in the way.”

The table sat in silence for a while, either eating or just staring into space. Wazzer was the first to break the silence. “So what did everyone do today?”

As conversation picked up again Polly sat and thought. The table buzzed around her as people told their day's events. Eventually people started to drift away until it was just her and Shufti. “You ok?”

“Yeah, just thinking,” she said with a smile. Shufti stared at her for a bit but eventually got up, patted her on the shoulder, and left. And then it was silent. 

**\- - -**

Polly opened the coffee shop as she did every morning. When 6:15 rolled around everything was in place. Mal’s coffee had been made, Jackrum was in his usual seat, and Shufti in her kitchen as usual. The only thing missing was Mal. At 6:20 Jackrum asked, “Did you two have a fight?”

“No!” Polly replied too quickly. Jackrum went back to contemplating his tea. Polly sighed from behind the counter and glanced at the clock again. 5 more minutes passed, then ten. Igorina came in at 6:30 and didn’t offer any reason past,  “she has a lot of work.”

Polly couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. Maybe Igorina had been wrong about Mal liking her. Maybe her asking to hang out yesterday had scared her and now Polly would never see her again. What if- Shufti hip checked Polly out of the way on her way to the front counter. 

“Stop worrying,” the girl chided her. “If you think any harder your head is going to explode. Just go and see her when your classes are over if you’re that worried.”

Polly stared at her for a bit, trying to find words. When they didn’t come she settled on just nodding at the girl. Shufti gave her a hug and then ambled back into her kitchen singing “I Won’t Say I’m in Love” under her breath. Polly sighed. She still had botany, bio, and calc class before she could see Mal. It was going to be a long day.

**\- - -**

Her botany class wasn’t as bad after Crowley realized that she wasn’t going to let up on him if he kept poking fun at her. That didn’t stop him from doing it, but now when she got an especially good retort in he would smile. This kind of knowing, creep smile, as if to say  _ I know what you’re doing _ . Adam was also very helpful in the fact the Crowley seemed to act nicer around him, and that Crowley did seem to be an old family friend in the way he doted on him. 

She quite liked botany, after all. It was calming. The work wasn’t overly hard, and she liked to get her hands dirty. The fact that they got to eat the things they put work into also helped. She also liked that at the end of the class, if they had extra food, they would give it to the local food pantry. She also like that fact that it kept her hands busy and gave her time to think. Or she did right up to the point that her mind betrayed her with thoughts of Mal, and all the what-ifs that came with the girl. She even spent lunch and the better half of bio worrying until she realized that she hadn’t heard anything Miss Level had just said. She focused on her studies after that hoping that if she focused hard enough it would make the nervousness go away. It worked for a bit until she got to calc class and realized it had been canceled without her knowledge. Checking her email she realized that the class had actually been canceled three days earlier and she had completely forgotten. Polly sighed. She had been worrying all day and she couldn’t focus at all. She might as well face the thing she was worrying about. 

**\- - -**

When Polly got to Mal’s dorm she realized she had no idea what she was going to say. Hi I came to check on you because I love you seemed just a bit too forward, and a casual ‘sup seemed like it didn’t explain enough. She settled with...

“Hey. You haven’t been around a lot, you ok?” she said, knocking on Mal’s door. She knew Igorina wouldn’t be back from her shift at the hospital until dinner time and she was pretty sure that Mal’s last class was noon. So she would be in her room or off studying somewhere. Polly hoped it was the first one. A muffled sound came from the other side of the room, and then the door was slowly pulled open. The room beyond it was dark, and cold. Polly wondered internally if Mal had been sleeping, and felt kind of bad until she noticed the glow of a computer. 

“Oh,” muttered the person before Polly, who looked nothing like the usual, perfectly put together Mal. “Polly?” 

“I got you coffee,” she said, holding up the cup she had grabbed on the way over, because she knew that Mal hadn’t gotten her morning coffee and could only imagine how bad her head hurt. A hand emerged from the darkness and took the proffered cup. Sipping sounds came from within and then the door opened more.

“Want to come in?”

“Sure, thanks.” 

“You can turn on the lights if you want,” said Mal as she walked back to the computer. “I kept meaning to but then that would have meant breaking away from my work and I really wanted to finish what I was doing.” 

Polly flicked on the lights and held in the gasp that threatened to get past her lips. To say the room was messy would be an understatement. There were clothes everywhere, along with Chinese food containers and the occasional empty coffee cup. Mal looked like she hadn’t slept in days. Igorina’s side of the room was spotless, though, giving the room what would have been a beautiful contrast if not for the strange mold Polly could see growing under the bed. 

“Ok, that’s it,” she said, clapping her hands together and startling what looked like a slowly falling asleep Mal in the process. Polly pulled Mal’s blanket off her bed, making all the coffee cups and food containers fall to the floor. “You are going to sleep.”

“But I-” Mal started, but Polly cut her off before she could finish.

“This is not up for debate. You are taking a nap and while you do I am going to clean up this room. Because you are going to get sick living like this.” Mal blinked up at her and then nodded, not up for fighting. Mal crawled into bed and promptly fell asleep. Polly brushed some hair out of her face, pulled a sheet over her, and turned away. Then she rolled up her sleeves. 

**\- - -**

By the time that Mal woke up, Polly had cleaned up all the detritus, taken out the trash, vacuumed, and scrubbed the strange moss off the floor. She also had done Mal’s laundry while she was at it. It wasn’t that much and she had to go downstairs anyway for the vacuum. She had wanted to do Mal’s sheets, too, but Mal had been using them at the time, and with the way the girl had been sleeping Polly didn’t have the heart to wake her. 

Polly came back with her arms full of laundry to find Mal sitting up in bed. 

“You…” said Mal, trailing off.

“Yep.”

“Even the… thanks,” she said in a small voice.

“No problem,” Polly replied, beaming. “Glad to help.”

“Why are you…” She trailed off as she watched Polly fold her clothes.

“Because sometimes people need someone to tell them when they can stop. Especially hard-working types like yourself.” Polly smiled at Mal and went back to the folding. The sheets rustled on the bed but she didn’t look up until she could feel Mal’s presence next to her. And then it was only a sideways glance. The girl had gotten off her bed, fetched her coffee and computer from her desk, and had taken a seat next to Polly on the floor. 

They sat like that for a while. Mal typing away on her laptop and Polly quietly folding her clothes. It made for a wonderful moment and Polly wished it would last forever. A still, comfortable silence built up between them, filling the room. Polly felt like she was swimming on a bunch of soft clouds, with Mal sitting beside her and the last of the sun’s rays making the room comfy and warm. 

At last Polly finished Mal’s laundry, tucked it all away in her dresser, and sat down next to Mal. The girl glanced over at her with a smile before returning diligently to her essay. Polly leaned against her slightly and pulled out her phone, checking Facebook idly. 

In another hour Mal sighed and leaned back from her computer, resting her head against Polly’s shoulder as she read over the essay. 

“Finished!” she exclaimed triumphantly. 

“Great!”

Mal looked at her and her smile faded. “Oh, Polly… I'm sorry, I shouldn't have kept you here so long. You probably have homework to do, too.”

Polly shrugged. “Nothing more important than you.” Was it her imagination, or was Mal blushing?

“Thank you, Polly. It… really helped having you here.” Her hand just brushed against Polly’s. 

She swallowed. “Don’t mention it….” Her heart was pounding. 

The doorknob rattled and Igorina stepped into the room. “Hey Mal, I'm back. Oh, hi Polly. What are you doing here?”

“Hey, Igorina.” Polly stood up awkwardly. “I was just helping Mal with some homework.”

“Oh, good. It looks like you tidied up a little, too. Thank you.”

“No problem. Um, I should probably be going….”

“Of course,” Mal said hurriedly, standing up as well.

“I'll walk you out, shall I?” Igorina asked. 

“Sure, thanks.”

Igorina followed her out and shut the door behind her. “What were you two doing?”

Polly felt her face flush scarlet. “Nothing, I swear! She was just having a hard time with some homework!”

Her friend eyed her suspiciously. “If you say so…. At least you got her to let you clean things up a little. She snaps at me if I so much as try….”

“Well, she was passed out most of the time.

“Ah, that explains it. Well, have a good night, Polly.”

“Thanks, Igorina. You too.”

Polly turned and headed out the door. It was a long, cold walk back to her dorm, but with her memories of the afternoon to keep her warm, she hardly even noticed.

When she got back to her dorm she found Adam waiting for her at the door. He was flanked by three other students- a hulking, heavy set young man, a skinny boy with glasses and a bag full of books, and a willowy girl with a scarlet pixie cut and a black leather jacket. 

“Hey, Polly,” Adam greeted her. 

“Hey, Adam… what are you doing here?”

“I was telling my friends about the Plan,” he said, somehow managing to give it an ominous capital letter, “and Wensleydale had an idea.” He gestured to the skinny boy. “I wanted to run it by you.”

Polly blinked. “Um, sure. Come on in.”

“Excellent. We were thinking, if you approve, we could put it into action tomorrow.”

**\- - -**

Polly came into work the next morning just as usual and began setting up. At around six Adam came in with his friends in tow. He winked surreptitiously to Polly as they selected a table. She rolled her eyes. Adam had suggested using code names, but that was just a bit too silly for her.

He approached the counter to order four hot chocolates- peppermint for Pepper, white for Brian, soy for Wensleydale and a plain one with extra whipped cream for him. 

“He won’t come in for another hour at least, you know.”

Adam grinned. “We know. But we thought it was best to be early, just in case.”

“Why is everyone here, anyway? I thought just you and Wensleydale were part of the...plan.”

“Oh, Brian and Pepper aren’t part of it. They just wanted to see if we could pull it off.”

“Okay then. Here’s your drinks.”

“Thanks, Polly!”

He rejoined his friends and Polly resumed her work. She found herself glancing at the clock every once in awhile, and her heart sank when Mal failed to appear at her normal time. She made a mental note to check on her later. 

She was distracted from her thoughts a moment later, when Aziraphale entered. He ordered his usual cocoa and sat down near the window. Adan exchanged a significant glance with Polly.

From then on the Plan was on a tight schedule. Three minutes before Crowley was due, Wensleydale approached Aziraphale.

“Excuse me, sir,” he began, very politely, “but I was at an old bookstore the other day and I think I may have stumbled upon a few rare editions. I was wondering if you’d like to have a look….” He successfully lured Aziraphale back over to their table, with his back facing the door. Adam quickly sat down in Aziraphale’s vacated seat, and Crowley entered a moment later.

“Over here, sir!” Adam exclaimed, waving cheerily and throwing Aziraphale’s book under the table. Crowley came over without ordering anything.

“Hello, Adam. How’s life?”

“Oh, the usual. So, I was having a little trouble with the botany reading….”

Polly monitored both conversations carefully. Eventually Aziraphale concluded his and turned away to sit back down. He saw Crowley and Adam sitting there, frowned, and started towards them. Crowley was too engrossed in his own conversation to notice until Aziraphale was standing directly next to him. The librarian cleared his throat politely. Crowley looked up, and he blushed scarlet upon seeing who it was.

“Oh! Mr. Aziraphale!” Adam exclaimed. “I’m sorry, is this your table? I was just talking to Professor Crowley for a moment. You’ve met each other, haven’t you? No? That’s strange, seeing as you both know me so well. Here, why don’t you sit down? I’ve got to get back to my friends.” Adam seamlessly manoevered Aziraphale into the seat opposite Crowley. “I’m sure you two would have loads to talk about!” He concluded cheerfully, before strutting up to the counter. Polly watched as the pair began talking, hesitantly at first.

“Smooth,” she commented with a grin. “Remind me again why you couldn’t just introduce them to each other directly?”

“Oh, that’s not a real plan!” Adam exclaimed. “A plan’s got to have, you know, complications and things! Otherwise there’s no point to it!”

Polly rolled her eyes. “If you say so…. Anyway, thanks for the help.”

“Not a problem! I think they’re getting along swimmingly so far!”

Polly glanced over again. Sure enough, the two were now in animated conversation, with Crowley leaning back in his chair and Aziraphale waving his hands wildly as he spoke. She grinned and turned back to her work, reflecting that this day could hardly get better from here. She was proved wrong a moment later, when she returned to the counter to find Mal grinning at her.

“Mal!” she exclaimed. “I thought you weren’t coming today!”

“Just running a little late, is all. I had to stop to get these.” She placed a bouquet of flowers on the counter. “I just wanted to... give you something. For helping me yesterday. You really saved my life.”

Polly grinned. “Oh, Mal, they’re beautiful! Thank you!”

“No, thank you, Polly.” She took the hand Polly was resting on the counter and raised it to her lips. “It meant more than you could possibly know.”

She blushed. “I’ll… um… get your order ready, shall I?”

“Please. And… come have a bite with me if you have time?”

“Of course.”

Shufti emerged from the kitchen as Mal headed towards her usual table. “I wonder who those could be from,” she teased with a grin.

“Oh, shut up!”

“I’ll go put them in some water.”

“Thanks, Shufti.”

“Sure. And Polly?”

“Yes?”

“If you’re looking for a sign that it’s time to make your move, I’d say that was it.”

As Polly poured out Mal’s coffee, she couldn’t help but think that Shufti was probably right.


End file.
